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TRANSCRIPT
Table of Contents Page
1. Introduction 04
2. Background: how climate change creates grounds of
vulnerability for agriculture and fisheries sector
04
3. Methodology of the work 06
4. People and their occupation 06
5. Agriculture and fishery in the study area: juxtaposition or
separated entities?
07
5.1 Shrimp cultivation in Kalikapur (Kaligonj upazila) and
Boyarshing unoin (Shyamnagar upazila), Satkhira
08
5.2 Stages of agricultural crop cultivation in Ramnagar union
(Kaligonj upazila) and Barakupot uoin (Shyamnagar upazila),
Satkhira
10
6. Adaptation options suggested by the local people 12
6.1 Challenges and adaptation options for fisheries sector (mainly
shrimp cultivation)
13
Case 1: Increase in the atmospheric temperature 14
Case 2: Increase in the salinity level 14
Case 3: Increase in the frequency of cyclonic events 14
Case 4: Extreme cold weather 15
6.2 Challenges and adaptation options for agriculture sector
(mainly shrimp cultivation)
15
Case 1: Continuous rainfall for 5 to 7 days in a row 15
Case 2: Salinity increase in the water 17
Case 3: Cold wave during winter season 17
7. Conclusion and critical examination 18
Change Impacts and Adaptation Options
Report on Agriculture and Fisheries Sector in the
South-Western Coastal Areas of Bangladesh
TA-6422 (REG)
Mainstreaming Environment for Poverty Reduction
Contract No. S73396
Submitted by
Dr Sheikh Tawhidul Islam
Adaption and Livelihoods Expert
March 2012
2
List of Tables
Page
Table 1: Different stages of shrimp cultivation in Kalikapur and Boyarshing
unions.
09
Table 2: Different stages of agricultural crop production in Ramnagar and
Barakupot unions.
11
Table 3: Comparative assessment of agriculture and shrimp cultivation
benefits in Satkhira district.
12
Table 4: Mode of explanation of sectoral vulnerability
21
List of Figures
Page
Figure 1: Farmer’s space utilization and dependence on other professional
groups in order to ensure a thriving agricultural sector of an area.
19
Figure 2 : Clusters of minor livelihoods groups develop professional sector.
20
3
Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Options
Report on Agriculture and Fisheries Sector in the South-
Western Coastal Areas of Bangladesh
1. Introduction
Asian Development Bank is currently implementing a TA project with Parctical Action (PA)
titled “Mainstreaming Environment for Poverty Reduction” in South-Western coastal district
Satkhira. A consultant “Vulnerability and Livelihoods Expert” has been hired to provide
technical support to PA to assess the vulnerability of agriculture and fisheries sector in the
context of climate change impacts. Under the scope of the work, PA is designing, testing and
demonstrating some adaptation interventions in four unions of Kaligonj and Shyamnagar upazila
of Satkhira district. The consultant provided (ToT) training support on climate change adaptation
principles and on new signaling systems to the field level staffs. In addition, a field based report
has been produced by the consultant on climate change vulnerability assessment and related
adaptation options for agriculture and fisheries sector. This report presents the results of that
assessment.
2. Background: how climate change creates grounds of vulnerability for agriculture and
fisheries sector
Sustenance of people and their living arrangements and conditions in Bengal, specially in the
geographical territory currently called Bangladesh, have been heavily dependent on the
occurrence/availability, quality of natural resources, and also on the access issues of local people
to these natural resources. These natural resources like (i) land with favorable properties such as
its fertility, moisture holding capacity, well drainage systems, (ii) biological diversity and
resources that provide wide array of choices to cultivate by the farmers, and (iii) climatic
conditions like optimum temperature, sufficient occurrence of rainfall, wind direction and flow
pattern, necessary sunshine, all in a combined fashion and effect create an enabling environment
suitable for natural resources based primary productions systems. The physical processes and
their resultant natural resources offer different livelihood options to the people and finally
different minor livelihoods groups emerge and perform different activities and finally develop a
professional sector like agriculture or fisheries.
Agricultural crop production, fisheries in open water or cultured types, livestock rearing are
some major sectors in rural Bangladesh upon which people rely on to make their living. In these
areas/sectors some people organize the activities as owners and a major part engage in forms of
day laborers, petty traders, crop processors, transportation workers. Thus the professional groups
might be different but the origins of their occupations are identical in most of the cases and
outcomes of their efforts are to make a living. In this regard, it can be said that actions of
individuals, households and communities may be differential in terms of scale of activities,
pattern of engagement and production relations, but it is true that all depend on nature dominated
physical systems and processes. And this is the entry point to identify and examine the
vulnerability of livelihoods groups, especially in a coastal environment. It is also imperative to
mention, the social organization, formal and informal institutions, governance systems,
marketing mechanisms, and other external engagements in the local affairs all are also attuned
with the physical systems and processes the community is exposed to for hundreds of years.
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Customary practices are thus strongly intermingled with formal governance systems to regulate
access, distributions and sharing of natural resources among the members of the community.
But in recent times, climate change is posing threats to these known pattern of functions of
physical processes and resulting to changes in its properties, availability and quality concerns.
Changes also radiates to the properties of natural resources and dependent social systems as
consequential, cumulative/residual impacts. Climate change is blamed because it brings
uncertainties characterized by increased frequency of natural hazards, causes subtle but rapid
change in the chemical compositions in the soil and water, brings irregularities are more
common in the occurrence of rainfall. Climate change impact on one system multiplies and
radiates in the whole systems and if this kind of pattern of change occurs in linear-progressive
fashion, the characteristics and dimensions in the final impact conditions would be quite
complicated and unpredictable. Handling these unpredictability in sectors like agriculture and
fishery with the existing set of tools and approaches might be inappropriate, insufficient and
inefficient. But it is true that certain adaptation interventions would help the communities and the
systems to cope with uncertainties, at least for that time. These are the premises of climate
change related vulnerabilities which were examined for agriculture and fisheries sector for
identifying areas of improvements so that climate change vulnerabilities are minimized at local
level.
3. Methodology of the work
As mentioned in the section above that areas of vulnerability for agriculture and fisheries were
examined in this exercise in Satkhira district. Kalikapur and Ramnagar unions from Kaligonj
upazila and Boyarshing and Barakupot unions from Shyamnagar upazila were visited by the
study team to understand the areas of vulnerability. People of these unions also suggested some
adaptation interventions to counterbalance climate change stresses. The work is based on
literature review, field work, GIS based spatial analysis and expert knowledge. Literature review
helped to grasp the latest updates of climate change issue, specially the local level impacts and
efforts to address related challenges. Field work (Annex 1) provided the opportunities to capture
the multidimensionality of community vulnerability, community level consequences of the
impacts and to understand how collapse of a system cause breakdown of the basis of livelihoods
of many professional groups. GIS/spatial analysis was useful to inform how physical distribution
of resources may put them at risks; and to know the extent of physical space within which the
community members perform to ensure their living. Finally, expert opinion was used to analyze
the phenomenon and to identify the areas of intervention.
4. People and their occupation
Agriculture and fisheries are two major professions of the people in the study area. People also
engage in many different minor professional activities like work as daily/wage laborers, do petty
business, some work as transport workers, some people commercially collect non-timber forest
products from the forests. Livelihood groups could be divided into major, minor, seasonal,
natural resources dependent, livelihoods groups working in cross cutting areas. However,
commonly found livelihoods groups found in Satkhira district were,
- Agricultural farmers
- Fishermen (both land based and marine)
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- Forest resource (e.g. crab, honey, wood etc.) collectors
- Fish fry collectors
- Daily wage laborers in different sectors
- Petty traders
- Merchantman in the market places
- Transportation workers
- People engaged in formal jobs
- Other minor professionals like kamar (who makes metal tools), kumar (who makes pots/utensils with mud)
All these professional groups someway or the other help to sustain and thrive major professional
sectors. However, the following sections analyze how they interact one with the other and finally
generate outcomes towards making a (livelihoods generating) systems functioning.
5. Agriculture and fishery in the study area: juxtaposition or separated entities?
Most of the people somehow or the other engaged with works related to agriculture and fisheries
in the unions studied. People rarely take on these two professions separately, rather they perform
both the professions simultaneously as a means to spread the risks. This may be the case that the
inheritance of professions dictates the people to place more importance on one type than the
other. This implies that people allocate 60-70% of their time in one profession and the rest on the
other and this may continue vice-versa. The secondary or minor professional engagements also
play important supportive roles when the primary profession is in jeopardy due to some
unavoidable circumstances on which they have least control. Thus those who are farmers are at
the same time are the fishers and in the similar way those who are fishers are also the farmers.
Therefore, based on primary occupation, people could be divided into different professional
groups but making sharp division would be problematic. These people also engage themselves in
many other related minor professional works which finally generates outcomes towards their
sustenance. Climate change impacts thus may not be seen as linear and single impact generating
phenomenon. Impacts may be major on specific sector but also leave minor scars on supportive
or secondary sectors. Sometimes, impacts on minor sectors might put the community in more
trouble, because supports to improve/address the major impacts are given more priority from
formal and informal agencies and institutions. Impact reduction or recovery efforts are always
less to the minor sectors. Thus people start their next production season with residual impacts in
most of the times.
However, in Satkhira fisheries are of cultured types, which co-exist with shrimp cultivation in
most of the instances. People also practice culture fisheries in shrimp ponds. On the other hand,
paddy cultivation is the major type of agricultural activity in the area. A detailed discussion is
given on both of these professional activities in the following sections before identifying and
analyzing climate change uncertainties in these sectors and presenting adaptation options.
5.1 Shrimp cultivation in Kalikapur (Kaligonj upazila) and Boyarshing unoin (Shyamnagar
upazila), Satkhira
Two study unions, i.e. the Kalikapur and Boyarshing of Satkhira district are dominated by
shrimp cultivation. Agricultural lands were converted into shrimp cultivation in kalikapur union
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in 1990. The agricultural farmers in this union observed that the immediate return from shrimp
cultivation is high than agricultural crop production; they also recognized that drainage system of
the area is good and saline water is available in the area as the river called Jhurjhuria runs
nearby. All these factors acted as stimuli for the local people to introduce shrimp cultivation by
replacing agricultural crop cultivation. On the other hand, shrimp cultivation started in
Boyarshing union in the same time period
Table 1: Different stages of shrimp cultivation in Kalikapur and Boyarshing unions. Shrimp farming phases/activities Involved processes/Professional
groups engaged
Vulnerability due to climate change
1. Lands for shrimp cultivation are generally taken on lease from small farm holdings. The lease holders need to pay taka 5/6 thousand per bigha.
Land owners; formal and informal middlemen
In a consequence of climate change impacts, small land owners sold out their lands or compelled to borrow money from the NGOs and local money lenders.
2. Embankment is being erected around the shrimp ponds. Farmers have to spend taka 2000 as to pay daily labor costs. Thus per bigha may cost them spending at least 10,000 Taka. This money is generally borrowed by the farmers from the local NGOs or money lenders. If the
loan amount is received from local money lenders then they have to pay 100 taka per month per 1000 Taka as interest. Some people receive advance money from the wholesale vendors, this kind of receipt of money is called “dadan”.
Landless labors find temporary jobs; some make metal tools and other essentials and supply to these labors/farmers. They are generally based in the small market places.
Daily wage laborers may lose jobs as a consequence of breakdown of shrimp cultivation in the production site. In the other way around, consequences also may arise in the wage laborers side such as destruction of the homesteads, unsecured food supply and disruption in the water supply systems and sanitation and health.
Sometimes these stresses force people leave the place. Thus climate change consequences may cause shortage of wage laborers in the shrimp farms.
3. Ploughing the land Mainly tractor machines are used for this purposes; sometimes livestock are used for ploughing of lands. This indicates that some people are working as technicians to ensure the machines are running. Similarly, keeping the livestock alive and strong needs to depend on keeping
pastureland for fodder collection and some inputs from the markets.
Fodder collection becomes a big problem in the area because of increase of salinity in the soil, water and air. As a result livestock rearing becomes a big problem in the area
4. Apply chemicals into the soil as to prepare the land.
A big supply of chain has developed locally. Day laborers are also required to apply the chemicals into the ponds.
Damage of road infrastructure in the area disrupts the distribution mechanism of chemical inputs in the shrimp frms.
4. Pump in saline water from the nearby rivers and canals into the
ponds.
Shallow pump machines are generally used to pump in saline water into the
ponds. Some machine technicians, traders of spare parts, fuel suppliers work to facilitate this process.
Destruction of embankments in a repeated trend, force the shrimp farmers to increase
the financial investment for erecting/rebuilding the embankments. Without this investment they can not get saline water into the shrimp ponds.
5. Applying seedlings/shrimp fry in the pond. Price of the shrimp fry required per bigha is 500/550 taka. A
total of 1000 fry is required per bigha. Shrimp fries are locally available. After one month of applying 1000 shrimp fry, another 1000 fries are added.
Shrimp fry collectors (mostly women and children) play a major role in gathering and supplying shrimp fries.
Traders, transportation workers and also play significant role.
Shrimp fry collectors can not make a living out of their cpllection in a condition when climate change causes destruction to
the shrimp farms.
6. After 4/5 months, matured shrimp crops are harvested.
Daily wage laborers are required during harvesting the crop at both
The small, medium and big traders lose their trading opportunities in case of
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production, packaging and processing sites.
breakdown/wash away of shrimp production/farms. In addition, transportation workers, head-load carry workers also lose their jobs.
7. Farmers take their harvest to the near by markets, sometimes agents of wholesale traders come to the production site to purchase the product. These traders then send this collection to district towns such as Satkhira, Khulna, Chittagong. About
90% of the shrimp are sold at production site.
In many instances local traders collect shrimp from the production site and then they sell it to the wholesale markets. Transport systems then ensure transfer of shrimp from the production site to processing plants located mainly in other districts.
Climate change sometimes causes destruction of road networks. Then the transportation sector, and the big traders all face economic consequences.
8. District administration sometimes monitor production sites and processing plants to check whether the activities are maintained in orders. Sometimes District/Upazila fisheries officer visit sites.
Formal professionals and administrators are engaged.
Sometimes local traders practice corruption as to off set their loss incurred from climate change induced hazards. In some occasions local administration officials allow this corruption on bribes.
mainly because of favorable physical factors exists in the area. The shrimp farms get water from
Kholpetua river in this union. Before shrimp farming, agricultural practice was predominant. At
the beginning, some local farmers started shrimp farming that caused saline intrusion in the
whole area. In such circumstances, agricultural farmers filed case against shrimp farmers in the
judiciary and placed petition stop it. But the verdict was given against the farmers. Finally, the
all the agricultural farmers considered that it’s better to give up agricultural crop production and
to practice shrimp cultivation. These are the background history of introducing shrimp
cultivation in these two unions.
In summary, it can be said that favorable physical conditions i.e. the saline environment,
availability of shrimp fry in the area, government support in production, processing, transporting
and international marketing mechanisms, good financial return, all these factors in aggregate
contributed to spread shrimp cultivation in the area. However, Table 1 gives step-by-step
activities of shrimp cultivation. The Table also indicates how many different professional groups
are engaged in every stage of shrimp cultivation.
5.2 Stages of agricultural crop cultivation in Ramnagar union (Kaligonj upazila) and
Barakupot uoin (Shyamnagar upazila), Satkhira
People in Ramnagar and Barakupot unions did not convert their lands into shrimp cultivation
rather to prefer practice agricultural crop production. Different phases of activities that finally
help to sustain agriculture are given in Table 2.
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Table 2: Different stages of agricultural crop production in Ramnagar and Barakupot unions. Agricultural crop production phases/activities Involved
processes/Professional
groups engaged
Vulnerability due to climate
change
1. People practice agriculture in their own lands, but in most of the cases people get lease hold of others lands in order to increase their farm size. The farmers are mainly subsistence farmers, they
produce mainly for domestic level consumption. In case that people need to hold others lands, they generally borrow money from NGOs or local money lenders at high interest rate to do this. Some of the farmers use their bank accounts for transacting money. Local Banks, NGO office and Union Parishad all are one kilometer away from the farmers place. The farmers need to travel these distances to generate outcomes.
Individual farmers are the main players in this case. However, support services like banking services,
technical information/support giving professionals working in the local areas also play important roles.
Lands are becoming more saline now a days by natural processes and in some cases soil salinity takes place due to man-made causes.
Sometimes standing crops are damaged by hazards.
2. People depend on livestock and power tillers to plough their lands. Power tillers are locally available. Charge for tilling per bigha is 500 taka.
Farmers need to keep livestock agile and strong so that they are supportive to agricultural activities from ploughing of land to crop transportation and processing.
Sometimes farmers decide not to cultivate their lands due to the bad condition of the lands. In these cases machine technicians got less works.
3. Farmers mainly collect (paddy) seed from local markets and local agriculture office; some of the farmers preserve seed at home.
Some people engage in seed marketing business
4. Irrigation of water to the agricultural fields is done mainly by drawing water from the nearby rivers and canals using pump machines.
A group of pump machine technicians has developed in the area to keep running the machines; while some
people are engaged in fuel supply business.
Both surface and ground waters are becoming saline in the area. As a result, irrigating water into agricultural fields becomes
difficult, that cause poor agricultural harvest.
5. Chemical inputs for agriculture are collected from local markets
A supply of chain function has developed in the area to store up and distribute the chemical inputs locally.
6. Planting of seedlings and application of chemical inputs and clearings of weeds
Wage laborers are generally needed during this phase.
Uncertainty in agricultural production influence/cause day laborers to temporarily migrate from the area (specially in brick making industries in other districts). This cause shortage in labor supply in the agricultural fields for weeding, applying
chemicals inputs; also during crop harvesting and processing periods. Household women need to take additional burden in these circumstances. Sometimes continuous rainfall, shortage in the length of sunshine hours per day and in the number of sunny days in
a row cause a serious problem to ensure the crops are moisture free since crops with moisture content is not suitable for long term storage and also farmers get poor rate per kilogram in the market thus losing money.
7. Crop harvesting Wage laborers are crucial during this time
8. Crop processing Household women plays a major role in crop
processing activities
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9. Crop selling and storage at homesteads or in government silo.
Crops are generally preferred to consume domestically. If there is any surplus, there is local
market to sell those.
As mentioned before, if moisture content remains in the crops, there is a possibility that the stored crops will be seriously damaged. People
may not consume this at household level.
However, there is always a debate, even among the local farmers, whether shrimp cultivation or
agriculture is good for the local community. Based on the reflections of local people a
comparative assessment of benefits are presented in Table 3.
Table 3: Comparative assessment of agriculture and shrimp cultivation benefits in Satkhira
district. Items Agriculture Shrimp cultivation
1. Farming intensity Subsistence level Commercial level
2. Requirement of land Any size of land is alright Generally big size of land is required
3. Chemical inputs Less Comparatively high
4. Engagement of wage laborers A substantial amount of labour-day required
Less labor required
5. Economic return Less High
6. Skills People are culturally and emotionally attached to this.
People adopted this practice by receiving technical advice from the experts
7. Local biodiversity Supportive to local biodiversity Not supportive to local biodiversity
8. Ownership pattern over the
occupation
Those who got lands have full ownership
and enjoys the agricultural practice
Mainly few farm holdings control the
whole activity
9. Local physical processes and natural resources
Farmers sometime have to struggle to get a good harvest due to salinity problems
Favorable to shrimp farming
10. Social tension and conflict Less and locally negotiable High
11. Contribution in food security Locally high and nationally less Locally less significant but nationally highly significant
12. Climate change impacts Vulnerable to climate change Highly vulnerable to climate change
13. Domestic level energy supply Very much supportive Not supportive
14. Benefit multiplication Multiple level benefits are received Economic return is the main expectation
15. Certainty of getting good harvest Less certain Generally certain
6. Adaptation options suggested by the local people
During the field survey the local people mentioned that they are facing different kinds of
problems due to the anomalies in the climatic processes. They also mentioned that they
anticipate some negative consequences in both agriculture and fishery sectors due to certain
changes that has been happening in the climatic processes. They, in this context, suggested some
options that they would practice to cope with the changing situation and minimize the loss. The
climate change variables against which the challenges are examined and accordingly presenting
the adaptation options are (i) temperature rise, (ii) salinity increase in the water, (iii) increased
frequency of cyclones, (iv) cold wave, (v) continuous rainfall in a row. The problems identified
by the local communities are based on their experience and the adaptation options they plan to
put in practice are reflected from their indigenous knowledge. In other words, proposed
adaptation options are not scientifically proved to be efficient. At first the challenges and
adaptation options for fisheries sectors are given and then adaptation options for agriculture
sector are presented.
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6.1 Challenges and adaptation options for fisheries sector (mainly shrimp cultivation)
Case 1:
Climate change variable: Increase in the atmospheric temperature
Impact scenario: Farmers mentioned that impact of temperature rise in the atmosphere would
cause increase in the level of salinity in surface and ground water and also in soil. This situation
may bring disease in the fishstock and may contribute in the death of shrimp fries in the shrimp
ponds.
Adaptation options: Adaptation options in this case would be to release more shrimp fry in the
shrimp pond to counterbalance the death of juvenile shrimp. The local people suggested not to
release all new fries in the pond at a time rather it should be done phase by phase in 7/10 days
interval. Generally one bigha of shrimp pond may need 5/6 thousand shrimp fries, in this
circumstances 10/12 thousand shrimp fries may be needed.
Probable cost: At current market price, fries of Bagda shrimp would cost 800 to 1500 Taka and
Golda cost 1500 to 1800 Taka. Thus if additional 5 thousand shrimp fries need to be released
into the shrimp pond that would cost 4 to 7.5 thousand Taka for Bagda and 7.5 to 9 thousand
Taka for Golda per bigha of land.
Case 2
Climate change variable: Increase in the salinity level
Impact scenario: In this case, death of shrimp fry will take place and mature fish will suffer from
disease.
Adaptation option: Farmers suggested that use of gypsum salt and pumping in sweet water from
the near by underground aquifer and surface water sources in the affected shrimp pond would be
the adaptation technique to address the problem. Farmers mentioned that before applying
gypsum in the soil of shrimp pond, all the waters need to be removed from the pond. Then 20
kilogram of dry gypsum power have to be spread over the area. Then at least one third of the
pond has to be filled with sweet water and the remaining portion could be filled with natural
saline water. This technique would be useful to cope with salinity problem in the shrimp ponds.
Probable cost: A 20 kilogram gypsum packet would cost the farmers 250 taka. There will be
some expenditure for bringing sweet water into the pond. Other areas of expenditure are use of
daily labor, costs related to pump machine operation.
Case 3
Climate change variable: Increase in the frequency of cyclonic events
Impact scenario: Fish ponds may be destroyed and fishery resources may be washed away.
Adaptation option: Farmers mentioned, adaptation option in this regard would be to raise the
height of the embankments around the shrimp ponds. If possible nets could be used along the
boundary line of the pond. They also mentioned that, people may go for net fish culture in the
nearby canals/rivers, which was found viable in other parts of the country. However, it should be
kept in mind that the embankments should not be very high because it will be susceptible to
collapse.
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Cost: Farmers mentioned that it would cost them Taka 15 thousand to raise the height the
embankment around a shrimp pond of one bigha size.
Case 4
Climate change variable: Extreme cold weather
Impact scenario: Death of shrimp fries may occur in this case. In many instances it was seen that
matured shrimp and other fish species suffer from different kinds of disease. The symptoms of
disease are seen in the development of bad smell in the water and sometimes the fish body
becomes red.
Adaptation option: Spraying of lime (CaCo3) mixed with cold water in the shrimp pond would
address this problem. Farmers mentioned that 3 to 4 kilogram of lime would be enough per bigha
for this purpose.
Probable cost: The cost for lime would be within 100 Taka. But costs related to the use of
labors for spraying purposes would be another area of expenditure.
6.2 Challenges and adaptation options for agriculture sector (mainly shrimp cultivation)
Case 1
Climate change variable: Continuous rainfall for 5 to 7 days in a row.
Impact scenario: This type of continuous rainfall would occur specially in the Bangla month of
Ashar. This is the time for raising paddy seedlings in seed beds. Incessant rainfall would cause
destruction of these seed beds. As a result, the farmers can not plant paddy seedlings in right
time in the field and finally this may leave a heavy cost in the paddy production.
Adaptation option: Local farmers mentioned that in a case like this farmers should open two
options (i.e. seed bed preparation and fish culture) at the same time in the same plot. At the
beginning, farmers should raise 2 to 3 feet high embankments around the plot and then try to
develop the seed bed. If the plot gets inundated by a moderate rainfall, the farmers may put their
efforts to dry out the clogged water from the shrimp pond. But if the amount of water is large
within the embanked area and all the surrounding areas also filled up with water, then the
farmers may get little opportunities to pump out the waters. In that case, farmers should give up
hope for paddy seedling production, rather they may go for preparing fish cultivation in the same
plot because the amount of water is enough in the pond and that is sweet. If they decide to go for
fish cultivation, the farmers should immediately release young fish in the embanked pond area.
Farmers will be able to get their fish harvest within 4 to 5 months. Immediate after the catch,
they will be able to use that land for Boro paddy cultivation. This cultivation method would be
good for replenishment of soil and for next season paddy cultivation. Because the fish meals that
had been applied would act as manure for paddy and standing water allow that land to get fresh
sediments and soil nutrients.
Farmers also suggested that if rainfall continues for more than 7 days, then this option may not
work and all the efforts may be washed away. Their suggestion in these circumstances is not to
use smaller plots for paddy seed bed preparation or fish cultivation. They rather advised to go for
cooperative forms of cultivation, where individual households will form groups and develop a
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big chunk of area for agriculture or fishery practice. In this case, they will better be able to face
disasters jointly.
Probable cost: Farmers mentioned that the cost of paddy cultivation in a bigha of land would
cost them around 8000 Taka and they may receive Taka 9800 from selling of the harvest. But by
doing fish cultivation, farmers may be able to sell fish worth of Taka 40 thousand against their
investment of Taka 10 thousand. If indicates, that farmers get more financial returns from fish
cultivation than that of agricultural practice. They also mentioned that they would still prefer to
go for paddy cultivation if opportunity permits because it gives them a sense of (food) security
and they are more culturally affixed to it.
Case 2
Climate change variable: Salinity increase in the water
Impact scenario: Increase in the rate of salinity in water has adverse effect on paddy seedlings
during its seed bed stage and it is also not good for young stage of paddy plants. Sometimes, high
salinity impacts on the plants during flowering stage. In this case, visual observation may
indicate that the paddy plants are thriving but finally the rice content may not be developed in the
grain due to high salinity.
Adaptation option: In this situation, local farmers suggested to remove saline water from the
bottom of the plant and apply sugar and saccharine water in the field to counterbalance the
salinity problem. As per their suggestion, 7 to 8 kilogram of sugar or 50 grams of saccharine
would be enough for spraying in the water. Sugar could be applied directly but saccharine
solution should be prepared first and then to apply in the field by using spray machine.
Probable cost: A spray machine would cost around 1500 Taka and sugar for 300 Taka or 50
grams of saccharine 35 Taka. On top of that labor cost would be counted.
Case 3
Climate change variable: Cold wave during winter season
Impact scenario: This is the time for sowing of young Boro paddy plant in the field. In extreme
cold situation, young paddy plants become reddish at first and then gradually die.
Adaptation option: Farmers suggested making artificial fence/barrier to protect plants from the
cold wind and to apply hot water in the field so that the impact of the cold is reduced. The fence
could be developed by locally available plant golpata or using rubber sheets. They also
mentioned that cold standing waters should be removed from the field and comparatively warm
water from the underground should be pumped in the field. They also cautioned that it should be
kept in mind that removed water should not be pushed into others field.
Probable cost: Irrigating water once in one bigha plot by using a shallow pump machine having
4” supply pipe would cost 4000 taka.
7. Conclusion and critical examination
Vulnerability refers to the degree of susceptibility of any individual entity or systems to
unexpected events or conditions, which may interrupt to generate outcomes; the outcomes finally
determine the state of wellbeing of the society/community. This explanation holds multiple
dimensions and requires serious efforts to unwrap the whole complexities so that this conceptual
bearing could be translated it into operational or functional framework. This transformation is
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very important and may facilitate in developing approach that is appropriate for a certain
community and location to address their problems.
However, it is really hard to design an inclusive, long term, community-oriented and sustainable
climate change adaptation planning to protect a professional sector (like agriculture) if risks
factors of all related professional groups are not sufficiently captured and addressed.
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Figure 1: Farmer’s space utilization and dependence on other professional groups in order to ensure a thriving agricultural sector.
15
Because the professional groups of a sector (Figure 2) depend each other and perform in
a mutually beneficial manner; finally a professional sector sustain with the sustenance of
all other minor groups of the space. Figure 1, in the previous page illustrates the idea. The
map was prepared through the consultation process with local farmer communities.
Farmers in Ramnagar union mentioned (and reflected in the map) that they are dependent
on a number factors like physical resources/factors (e.g. location of the land, land quality,
surface and ground water availability), institutions (e.g. local government institutions,
NGOs, Banks, Post Office), market facilities (for getting agricultural inputs and selling
their produce), infrastructural facilities (like roads, embankments, water gates etc.),
energy supply systems like electricity, crop storage facilities like food storage silo.
Existence and functionality of all these facilities and related professional groups are
essential to maintain a thriving agricultural system of that area. The people informed that
problems in any one of these entities leave a negative consequence in the whole
production relations and radiate in
lower and upper hierarchies. It indicates, that assessment of vulnerability in agriculture
sector does not necessarily mean that condition of farmers will inform all the facts and
based on those facts problems could be addressed. The analysis suggests that adaptation
interventions should be designed in such a way so that problems of the sector could be
properly understood for taking necessary planning to address that. In this backdrop, a
mode of explanation is proposed so that the nature and dimensions of the problems could
be identified correctly for the sector. The results may then give necessary insights to
develop interventions having potentials to generate multiple benefits for multiple
professional groups of the sector (Figure 2). Table 3 presents the items for mode of
explanation of the vulnerabilities of a sector, which could be used for sectoral
Agriculture
(Farmers)
Wage
laborers
Agri.
professiona
ls
Transportat
ion workers
Machine technicians
NGOs/Ban
ks/Local Govt.
Women
workforce
at home
Input
suppliers
Fuel sellers
Fishermen
Wage
laborers
Market actors
Transportation workers
Machine technicians
Local
vendors
Fry suppliers
Input suppliers
Fuel sellers
Figure 2: Cluster of minor livelihoods groups develops professional sectors. Left cluster
presents agricultural farming and the right portrays fishery sector.
16
Table 3: Mode of explanation of sectoral vulnerability.
No. Mode of Explanation 1. Space (explain the distributions and interdependency of physical and human
elements of an area)
2. Scale of the problem (in terms of time, spatial, dimensionality, )
2.1 Time
2.2 Spatial scale
2.3 Dimensionality
3. Relationship, hierarchy
4. Pattern
5. Nature-Human interaction
vulnerability assessment. Designing and implementing adaptation interventions without
the consideration of broad forms of vulnerability may leave piecemeal and isolated
benefits. These issues were discussed during field level (ToT) workshop (Annex 2).
17
Annex 1
RETA 6422: Mainstreaming Environment for Poverty Reduction Community Based Adaptation in Vulnerable Coastal Areas of Bangladesh
First Field Mission Report
Submitted by
Dr Sheikh Tawhidul Islam
Consultant: Adaptation and Livelihood Expert
October 2011
18
1. Introduction
The field trip aimed at developing a comprehensive, firsthand knowledge on the condition of people living in South Western coastal areas of Bangladesh exposed to different types of physical
hazards. The trip gave the opportunity to know why and how the social, economic, bio-physical
systems become susceptible to hazard events and how climate change has brought new and
additional dimensions to the existing set of problems in the area. The way the field trip contributed to figure out the problems, it is the similar way the opportunities for improvement of
the situations were identified. The members of the team got the opportunities during the field visit
to assess the challenges in a more holistic manner, where physical, economic, social and cultural issues are intermingled and through collective actions culminate outcomes that support people for
their sustenance.
The field trip was arranged for four days in Satkhira district (two days in the field and two days for journey), started on the 13th October 2011 and lasts upto the 16th October. Three consultants
from different backgrounds (i.e. Geography, Economics and Architecture) and the project staff
from Practical Action composed the field team. The team moved together in the
field/demonstration sites and got opportunities to talk to the people and to observe the misery/state of vulnerability of the people and systems. This field level practical knowledge will
facilitate the consultants to undertake their assigned tasks in a way which is suitable for the local
contexts.
2. Objectives of the field trip
Reflecting on the facts provided in the sections above, three fold objectives were taken into
consideration for the field trip. The first one focused on the local context, the second objective was related to the project (i.e. RETA 6422) under which the consultants are engaged for their
assigned tasks and the last objective is related to identifying appropriate adaptive measures for the
farmers and fishers community so that they are more capable to handle climate change induced
adversities. However, the objectives of the field trip, in concrete terms, are given in the following sections.
(i) To know the bio-physical and socio-economic conditions and contexts
of the area.
(ii) To receive a thorough understanding about the project that the
Practical Action (PA) is currently implementing in the area, and
(iii) To identify the areas of interventions so that the community resilience
is enhanced.
Keeping in mind the objectives mentioned above, the consultants (specially the livelihoods
consultant) paid special attention in some thematic areas so that the understanding is more
systematic and output oriented. Table -1 provides a picture regarding the issues considered/observed during the field visit under different objectives.
19
Table 1: Objective of the field trip and related illustrations. Objectives Illustrations / observed thematic issues
Objective 1: To know the
bio-physical and socio-
economic conditions and
contexts of the area
- understanding the baseline social and economic conditions of
the people
- observe the nature and state of bio-physical systems and
processes of the area in the contexts of coastal environment
- identify the indigenous knowledge of local people
- understand the conditions/functions of local level institutions,
service delivery mechanisms in regards to livelihoods
security of the people specially the farmers and the fishers
- identify the opportunities/strengths of the communities
Objective 2: To receive a
thorough understanding
about the project that the PA
is currently implementing in
the area
- develop detail understanding about the interventions that the
Practical Action is currently demonstrating in the field
- identify related stakeholders
- to know the current, and also in cumulative terms, the state of
vulnerability of the people (i.e. the farmers and the fishers) in
the context of climate change induced hazards
- identify the areas where trainings are required for the farmers
and the fishers for enhancing their capacity; the field trip
contributed in giving ideas about the likely content/material
that the training manual should contain
- field trip also helped to identify the program needs and tasks
were allocated among the consultants towards the fulfillment
of the program requirements
Objective 3: Identifying the
areas of interventions so that
the community resilience is
enhanced
- Identify appropriate adaptive measures that might have
positive demonstration effect
- Identify the soft, structural/physical and strategic
interventions for enhancing community capacity and
resilience
- Identify local resources so that interventions could be
designed in such a fashion that is appropriate for the local
conditions
- Creating opportunities for enhancing demonstration effects of
the proposed interventions in the area so that they could
spread over the area/across the community members and
finally they could sustain for longer periods.
3. Tasks identified for the consultants
The activities of the field trip finally contributed in the identification of tasks which were then
assigned among the consultants. The major activities and reports to be developed by the consults
are given in Table 2.
Table 2: Tasks identified for individual consultants.
Sl. # Output of work Responsible person Preferable time frame
Hand out for farmers manual Dr. Sheikh Tawhidul December 11
Hand out for Fishers Manual Dr. Sheikh Tawhidul December 11
20
4. Conclusion
The field trip took place under the scope of the project titled “Community Based Adaptation in
Vulnerable Coastal Areas of Bangladesh”, provided very good opportunities to receive a deeper
understanding about the vulnerability of the coastal communities in the context of climate change.
It was understood as a result of the field visit that the conditions the people are currently in, is a combination of effects of past impacts/experiences, current socio-economic contexts and hazard
impacts. These contexts are again differential with the difference of locations they are living and
acting. However, it is expected that the observations and the suggestions the consultants will come up with would be useful to support adaptive livelihoods processes of the coastal
communities.
Identification of adaptive off farm Options
Dr. Mohammad Ziaul Haider October 11
Awareness and skill training materials
Dr. Sheikh Tawhidul December 11
Baseline format Practical Action will provide the soft copy where all 3 consultants will add if needed
October 11
Shelter design and estimation (max 3 types),
Mr. Anirban, Architect November 11
Identify possible drinking water option, design and estimate
Mr. Anirban, Architect November 11
Identify suitable use for solar energy demonstration
Mr. Anirban, Architect November 11
Identify suitable options of clean technology for demonestration
Mr. Anirban, Architect November 11
Identification of adaptive aquaculture
No one got comfort to provide support
By November 11
21
Annex 2
Mainstreaming Environment for Poverty Reduction TA-6422(REG)
ToT Workshop; Shyamnagar, Satkhira
7-8 March 2012
Second Field Mission Report
Dr Sheikh Tawhidul Islam
Consultant
11 March 2012
Mainstreaming Environment for Poverty Reduction TA-6422(REG)
22
ToT Workshop; Shyamnagar, Satkhira; 7-8 March 2012
Mission Accomplishment Report
Dr Sheikh Tawhidul Islam
Consultant.
1. Introduction
Practical Action have been implementing community based adaptation programme in Satkhira
upazila with the support of Asian Development Bank. One of the objectives of the program is to
develop community awareness about climate change induced risks/threats and related adaptation aspects by using community volunteers. This implies that community volunteers need to be
trained on pertinent issues so that they can arrange information/knowledge transfer events for the
community members. In this backdrop, Asian Development Bank provided support by employing a climate change consultant for providing training (it was called ToT workshop) to the volunteers
selected by Practical Action. The ToT workshop was held at Shyamnagar upazila of Satkhira
district. A total of sixteen participants (i.e. twelve community volunteers and four Practical
Action staff) attended the two day long workshop. The workshop was comprised of lecture sessions, interactive discussions and field trips. First day was dedicated for conducting classroom
sessions and the field trip was held in the following day. The objectives of the workshop were
two fold; i.e. (i) conduct a ToT workshop for the community level volunteers and (ii) capacity enhancement of the field staff of Practical Action on climate change issues. The following
sections give more about the components of the workshop.
3. Issues covered and methods used in the ToT sessions
3.1 Lectures
As mentioned earlier that the ToT workshop was focused on climate change. At the very
beginning basic/technical understanding of climate change was given through lecture sessions.
Participants became familiar about why climate change issues become a concern now a day and what are the reasons and consequences of it. These discussions were then followed by presenting
the principles of adaptation practices with special focus on farmers and fishers vulnerability
reduction issues. Finally, lecture given on the new disaster warning and signaling systems of the government. Necessary handouts and guidelines on farmers and fishers adaptation were provided
to the participants. Couple of video clips was also shown at the end of the sessions in the first
day, whish made the participants more familiar with the issues. However, the lecture sessions
were comprised of the following thematic topics.
Lectures Title/Topic
Day 1: Lecture 1 Understanding climate change
Day 1: Lecture 2 Climate change adaptation practices in Bangladesh
Day 1: Lecture 3 Adaptation options for farmers and fishers at local level
Day 1: Lecture 4 New disaster warning and signaling system
23
3.2 Discussions
The lecture sessions instigated many questions/queries in the minds of the participants about climate change and related risks/threats and consequences of the impacts. The participants wanted
to make sure that their understandings are complete, which may enable them to disseminate the
messages about climate change to the common people in their locality more effectively. These
discussion sessions were also useful for the session conductor/trainer to know the level of learning the participants could grasp and identify the gaps still remained among the ToT
participants. These understandings helped the trainer to fine tune the lesson delivery approach to
make sure that the participants can read as much information/messages as they can during sessions. The questions of the participants were locally oriented; they also shared their local
experiences about the changes regarding climatic variables and the physical hazards they face.
Thus their efforts to establish functional links between their experiences on impacts of physical hazards with theoretical discussions on climate change made them confident about climate
change matters. The participants took notes during these discussion sessions, which they
mentioned that these will give them hints to elaborate their arguments based on examples while
they will conduct sessions with local inhabitants.
3.3 Field trip
A field trip was arranged in the second day of the two day long TOT training workshop. The
purpose of the training sessions was to provide them opportunities to receive practical orientation on risks and threat issues posed by climate change at local scale. It was thought that the field trip
would be useful opportunity for the participants to learn how adaptation interventions, specially
which are being demonstrated by Practical Action, may help the professional groups like farmers and fishers to cope with climate change adversities. The participants visited a number of
interventions like agriculture in shrimp pond dykes, shrimp trap and fish cage making as off farm
occupation, goat rearing, improved kitchen and cooking facilities, strip plantation, poultry rearing
in floating platforms, development of grassland for supplying fodder for livestock, cultivating vegetable plants in sacks, rainwater harvesting facilities. The participants found these
interventions very effective/clever as they recognized how adoption of little technological
measure may help a community in danger to cope with changed conditions. They also observed that some of the households in the community have already replicated the interventions for
reducing their vulnerabilities. They mentioned during the field visit that they will also ask the
communities living in their localities to adopt these technology based interventions. Thus field
trip turned up as a practical orientation of the participants, which will really be useful for transferring them into change agents in the society.
4. Performance of the participants
The performance of the participants was encouraging, which was demonstrated through their active participation in the classroom lecture sessions, discussion events and enthusiasm during
field trip activities. In the wrapping up session, the participants mentioned that the cause and
effects of climate change is more clear to them now than before, specially how climate change threats are posing serious threats to the coastal population in terms of break down of livelihoods
and food security, impacts on health, education, household protection initiatives, threats to the
sustenance of infrastructure and market mechanisms. They mentioned that the understanding they
received will help them to be confident in conducting training sessions with community members. Thus they claimed that they are now (i) well informed about climate change facts, (ii) their
confidence level has been improved, and (iii) they are now practically oriented with the climate
change phenomenon. Their level of attention to learn things as appeared during the workshop sessions also indicate that their learning interest was very high. Finally it can be said that their
performance was satisfactory. The following sections give more about it.
24
5. Outcomes of the mission
This section gives the arguments why and how the outcomes of the training workshop are satisfactory. The outcomes of the mission could be characterized in two ways, i.e. direct and
indirect outcomes/benefits. Direct benefits include the awareness and knowledge development of
the participants on climate change issues. On the other hand, awareness raising of the local
common people through actions to be performed by the participants could be termed as indirect benefits of this ToT workshop. However, the following sections glimpse a light on the outcomes
of the mission activities.
5.1 Awareness building about climate change and associate threats/risks
Awareness and skill development of the participants were the prime objectives to attain by
organizing the two day ToT sessions at Shyamnagar upazila in Satkhira district. As mentioned in
previous sections that the performance of the participants were satisfactory/encouraging and the response pattern during the sessions indicated that they understood climate change hazards,
impacts/consequences and related adaptation options/actions clearly, which they will be able to
use in their following activities.
5.2 The community volunteers becomes the change makers in the society
Initially, the participants were termed as the “ToT participants”, as if they will act as the local
trainers to develop community level awareness about climate impacts and appropriate adaptation
practices. But it was also identified at a later stage that there is a strong possibility that the participants will act as change agents in the society since they were able to recognize that acting
differently appropriate for the changed situation may help to reduce negative consequences. They
mentioned that they will not be limited only to transfer knowledge to the rural community members rather they will continue working to make a climate resilient society in their area. The
participants mentioned that they will try to bring change in their response pattern to address
climate change abnormalities and at the same time they will influence others in the community to
act differently for reducing impacts.
5.3 Replication of the good practices/technological interventions would be easier at
grassroots level
The participants observed that some people in the locality, who were not the direct beneficiaries of Practical Action interventions, adopted those interventions to reduce negative consequences.
During the field visit, the common people mentioned that after having a close observation on the
interventions, they recognized that these are efficient, long lasting and cost effective and finally it
has the potential to address climate change uncertainties. These messages received from the field encouraged the participants to actively organize the campaign at a later stage so that community
members adopt technology based adaptation measures for minimizing climate change impacts.
Thus it can be said that for field level replication of interventions through ToT participants could play an important role.
6. Conclusions
The sections mentioned above illustrates how the ToT workshop went on in terms of the areas covered in the sessions, methods used to make the sessions effective and the performance of the
participants. The participants and local Practical Action staffs expressed satisfactions about the
outcomes of the workshop and mentioned that this workshop will enable the community
volunteers (i.e. the ToT participants) to train local common people about climate change threats and to show the common people how adaptation interventions may help to reduce climate change
impacts. The volunteers will also be able to train the people about new disaster warning and
signaling systems as they received trainings in this area as well.